In-Location Partnership Created To Bring Us Indoor GPS

Nokia, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sony Mobile Comms and others have formed a new alliance called In-Location according to a Nokia news release today. Its intention is to promote deployment of "location-based indoor services" and the technical solutions needed to make the services work—low power, high-accuracy standardized technologies that use existing Bluetooth 4 and Wi-Fi gear in smartphones (alongside upcoming revisions in these wireless systems).

The new alliance explains that there are many possibilities for this indoors version of GPS that include better navigation, personalized product promotions, accurate location of assets (in warehouse-type situations) and better customer recognition on behalf of stores.

Nokia and its other tech rivals have already made steps in enabling indoor GPS using proprietary systems. Google, notably, has tried very hard to promote indoor positioning using clever Google Maps tech—and it's notably absent from this new alliance, which also doesn't include Apple. Indoor navigation is seen by many as key to bringing smart personalized advertising and a host of next-generation location-based services that for now only work well in outdoors situations.